


Who You Gonna Call?

by knifelesbian



Series: There Will Be Sun [2]
Category: Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: #married, Baby's First Halloween, F/M, Future Fic, Kid Fic, and kind of loving it, yep they're Adults now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-15
Updated: 2018-10-15
Packaged: 2019-08-02 12:41:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16305431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knifelesbian/pseuds/knifelesbian
Summary: Gert, Chase, and Halloween themed Parenthood





	Who You Gonna Call?

**Author's Note:**

> hey! so, this is going to be the first in a series of companion fics to my fic, We Were Angels Once, all set in the future. i've always wanted to write fics about what they were like as Adults, so, enjoy?

It’s way too late for this. Or maybe way too early. Either way, the baby is crying over the monitor, and it’s Chase’s turn, so he better get up right the fuck now, or  _ somebody  _ is making coffee for himself  in the morning.

 

“Babe, will you-” he starts to groan, but Gert is not having it.

 

“Nope. Your turn.”

 

Chase sighs dramatically, then pecks her lightly on the cheek, disentangling himself and getting out of bed so he can check on Joey. Technically, her name is Joan, but unless you’re Gert’s grandmother, or Alex- who  _ insists  _ on calling her daughter Joanie- it’s Joey. Of course, Joey is also an infant, so Gert supposes it wouldn’t matter much to her, but what kind of mother would she be if she didn’t saddle her daughter with a cool nickname?

 

Sigh. She misses Chase. Also, she can’t go back to sleep without him, so, guess who’s getting out of bed at...oh, shit, is it really three AM? Gross. 

 

Gert leaves their bedroom and ambles down the hallway, stretching lazily as she does. It’s a weird thing to love about a house, but this is probably her favourite hallway in the whole place. The carpet is soft, and she likes the pearly pink paint colour they chose- but it’s mostly the pictures on the walls that make her love it. All their best photos are in the living room, hung on the walls or put up on the mantle, so these are mostly a bunch of silly ones from over the years. A few candids from the wedding, pictures Chase took on a disposable camera when they went to Paris on their honeymoon, and lots of dumb pictures of her friends. Her favourite, though, is probably the picture near the end of the hallway from the day Joey was born. It had been a tedious pregnancy, with way too much bed rest and way too many scary visits to the doctor. But the day Joey was born, Mom took that picture of the three of them, squished together on the hospital bed and halfway asleep. Chase had his arms around her, and they both had tears streaming down their faces- because they had a  _ daughter _ . They made a whole new person. 

 

Unfortunately, that whole new person is still bawling when she reaches the nursery. She’s calmed down a little now, though, but Gert can still hear tiny sniffles as Chase rocks her in his arms. He’s humming something to calm her down, and Gert watches from the doorway as the tune puts their daughter back to sleep in only a few moments. It takes her a minute to realize what it is, but then she remembers Chase’s weirdly strong obsession with The Sound Of Music, and it strikes her. 

 

_ “Edelweiss, Edelweiss, every morning you greet me,”  _ Gert mumble-sings, coming up behind her husband and wrapping her arms around his waist loosely. She presses her face into his shoulder blade, leaving a small kiss there. “Morning, love.”

 

“Is it morning?” Chase asks softly, still crading Joey in his arms. He always waits until the last possible moment to put her down- Gert has found him fast asleep in the rocking chair with Joey in his arms many a time. 

 

“If three AM counts.” 

 

Chase sighs. “I don’t think it does. Also, what happened to it being ‘my turn’?”

 

Gert presses another kiss to his shoulder. “I missed you.”

 

“Oh, yeah, I’m sure the five minutes I’ve been gone have been utter  _ torture  _ for you, my poor, ailing, wife. However could I do that to you?” He presses a kiss to the top of Joey’s head, then gently lays her back in the crib. Gert wraps herself around his arm, pressing her cheek against his bicep as they watch their daughter sleep. 

 

“You’re bullying me too much for three in the morning,” Gert says, yawning. “I demand penance.” He raises a questioning eyebrow at her, and Gert gets up on her tippy toes, whispering, “I want a kiss.”

 

Chase laughs softly. “Oh, too easy.”

 

It’s as good as it always is. As it has been since they were sixteen, drunkenly kissing in her parents kitchen. He kisses differently, now- more man kissing his wife than boy with only half a clue of what he’s doing. But all the same, she loves him now just as she did then. Gert isn’t ever going to stop loving him.

 

~~~~~

 

Sometimes, Chase wishes his wife didn’t have a job. 

 

Yes, he knows that Gert loves teaching at Concord Prep, and he knows that the three of them would probably be living in a cardboard box without her job- Chase stopped working once Joey was born, head filled with dreams of Chase Yorkes, Ultimate PTA Dad. So far, it’s mostly been cleaning up spit up every hour, keeping Joey entertained, and ultra-cleaning the house. He loves it, though. Gert gets to work at a job she loves, and Chase gets to spend his days with his favourite infant on the planet. 

 

But on mornings like these, where all he wants to do is stay in bed with Gert all day, it’s kind of annoying that they have, like, lives. 

 

Chase pulls her closer, pressing his face into her dark hair and breathing her in. After they found out they were pregnant, Gert dyed her hair back to brown so she wouldn’t have to worry about the dye/bleach affecting the pregnancy. After Joey was born, though, she didn’t dye it back- too much maintenance, she said. Didn’t stop her from getting highlights, though- the regular shades, plus a few different shades of purple. Chase adores it, honestly. And what a perfect balance, right? Getting to keep that part of yourself that still wants bright purple hair, while still being a grown-up. Plus, from she’s told him, all her students love it, so that’s a plus. 

 

It’s chilly here in Massachusetts, even in October, so he’s grateful for the warmth as Gert snuggles closer. They have to get up soon, and they both know it- but not just yet. For now, they can stay as they are. 

 

Chase is just about to fall back asleep when the alarm goes off. They both groan, and Gert shifts in bed to face him, like if she turns away from it the alarm will just shut up. He cracks his eyes open for the first time that morning, giving Gert a sleepy smile and whispering, “Good morning, wife.”

 

She grins, but still doesn’t open her eyes. “Good morning, husband.” Gert pecks him on the mouth, then reluctantly sits up, yawning. She reaches over and turns off the alarm, thank  _ God _ , then rubs the sleep out of her eyes. “Oh, my God, is today  _ today?” _

 

Chase flops on his back, looking up at her and squinting in confusion. “Elaborate?”

 

“Like, like, it’s Halloween, right? I’m not bugging?” 

 

Chase huffs a laugh. “‘Like, like’, huh? Could you be any more Californian?”

 

“Shut up, Mr. Where Would I be Without In-&-Out, this is serious. Fuck, I was gonna make treats for the kids-”

 

“Handled. I did up treat bags for you while Joey was down for her nap yesterday- and, yes, I made sure to check the allergies list, so they’re good for everybody.” 

 

Gert looks down at him with a warm, grateful look. “God, I love you.”

 

“I know,” he says, grinning cheekily, and Gert grabs a pillow and throws it at him. Chase lets out a surprised laugh, then grabs another pillow and sits up, whacking her with it. That’s all it takes for a full on pillow fight to start, the two of them whacking each other with pillows and giggling like maniacs. 

 

Once Chase realizes that these pillows are goose-down, and that it’d probably be bad if one of them were to burst, he gathers Gert in his arms and squeezes tight. She can wiggle and squirm all she wants, there’s no escape, and the pillows are now safe. 

 

“Let me gooooo,” she whines, still squirming, but Chase doesn’t release her. Gert sighs heavily, then stops wiggling to say, “Chase, seriously, I have to get ready for work.”

 

“Orrr,” he starts, pressing a kiss to her neck, “You could skip.”

 

“Chase, I’m the  _ teacher _ , I can’t skip class.” 

 

He heaves a sigh, but lets her go, just so she’s not late to work. Gert gets out of bed, stretching as she ambled over to the lightswitch and flicks it on. Chase watches from the bed as she gets ready for the day, changing out of one of his old t-shirts into a pair of plaid trousers, a thin black turtleneck, and a maroon trench vest, courtesy of Nico’s last ‘I’m gonna learn to knit!’ stint. She tops it all off with a floppy witch hat she found at Goodwill the other day, then turns around, goofily posing for him. “What do we think?”

 

Chase grins. “You look great.”

 

Gert wrinkles her nose at him, hands on her hips.  _ Adorable.  _ “You always say that, though. Also, get up, lazy, we’ve got a day to start.”

 

“Yeah, yeah,” Chase says, shuffling out of bed and stretching with a groan. He catches Gert looking at him with a hazy look in her eye, and he turns back to her, smirking. “Enjoying the view?”

 

“Of my shirtless husband’s back muscles? Very much so, yes.” Gert tugs on her socks, pecks him on the lips, then leaves the bedroom, mumbling something about waking up Joey. 

 

When Chase enters the kitchen about ten minutes later, his wife is bopping along to the radio with Joey in her arms, chatting with their daughter aimlessly. He watches from his place in the doorway as Gert starts to sing to her, Joey babbling along to vaguely the same tune. 

 

Gert turns around and sees him, smiling warmly as she says, “Morning, honey. Get started on breakfast, will you? I’ve got to feed the little monster here.” 

 

“On it,” Chase says, pulling out the stuff for omelets as Gert sits at the island and starts feeding Joey. As she does so, Chase cracks eggs into the pan and starts chopping up veggies and turkey slices, humming along to the radio. “So what’s your plan for decorating today? You said you bought stuff at Dollar Tree, right?”

 

“Yeah, I’ve got a prep first period, so I’m gonna do it then. It’s not much, and they’re high schoolers, so who knows if they’ll even care, but-“

 

“Honey, those kids love you, you know that, right?” Gert rolls her eyes goodnaturedly, not really believing him, so he says, “Gert, come on, remember when you went on leave because the doctor put you on bed rest? I’m pretty sure I saw a kid crying when I came to pick you up. And they pitched in and got you a  _ gift basket _ when you officially left for maternity leave.” (If you’re wondering: yes, Gert cried. A lot.)

 

“Yeah, but that was, like, two years ago-“

 

“And they still love you. Other than that one kid you’re always complaining about, but small potatoes.” He flips the first omelet onto a plate, then places it in front of her on the table as she finished with Joey, pulling her shirt back down.

 

“I don’t  _ complain _ about him, I just think he’s a-“

 

“Snotty brat? Spoiled goblin troll? All things you’ve called this kid while  _ complaining.” _

 

Gert rolls her eyes at him as she puts Joey in her high chair, pressing a kiss to the top of their daughter’s head as she straps her in. “You know what, just for that? Have fun trying to wrestle her into costume this evening.”

 

Chase screws his face up at her. “Babe, last time I tried to get her to wear a costume she punched me in the eye!”

 

Gert leans over and pecks him on the cheek. “E _ xactly.” _

 

_ ~~~~~ _

 

“Now, I know none of you think this is all that important, but it’s important that you know why the witch trials happened, okay? It wasn’t just something in the water they were drinking, or a plague, this happened because independent or mentally ill women were seen as-“

 

There’s a knock on her classroom door. Awesome, just great, it’s not like she had finally gotten the kids to pay attention, or anything! 

 

Gert sighs, closing up the book she’d been loosely quoting with a  _ clap _ . “One second, kids.”

 

When she opens the door, she finds her co-worker/best work friend/Ethics teacher extraordinaire, Michelle Jones (MJ when they’re not at school), on the other side of it. As always, she’s rocking her lazy librarian look, with her Chucks, slouchy cardigan, and messy hair. She looks more student than teacher, which is probably why her students like her so much. “Hey, Gogurt Tube, your man’s waiting for you in the lobby.”

 

Gert blinks. “What’s this now?”

 

MJ rolls her eyes, but she’s grinning just a little bit, so she can’t be that annoyed. It’s hard to tell sometimes, though. They’ve been friends since their first year at Mount Holyoke, and MJ has never not been hard to read. “I  _ said _ , Mr. Munchkin is out in the lobby with Munchkin Jr.- something about you forgetting your lunch?”

 

Gert smirks.  _ “Please _ tell me you called him that to his face.”

 

MJ winks at her. “You know it. Never seen someone so short go so red.”

 

Gert snorts. “Let me guess- he said something about your shoes, right?” MJ nods, and Gert shakes her head at her husband’s nonsense. “He’s always on that. Anyway, thanks, if you’re going back that way, tell him I’ll be out in ten?”

 

MJ nods, then strolls back down the hallway. Sometimes she forgets to say goodbye or hello, which, yes, means some of their phone calls start with,  _ GERT, I JUST SAW A BEETLE THE SIZE OF MY HEAD! _

 

Gert waves a little at her retreating back, then re-enters the classroom to a bunch of ninth graders giving her the  _ can we have free time now?  _ eye. She sighs. “I have this feeling that if I keep talking about Salem, I might get my house toilet papered tonight when I take my kid trick-or-treating. Is this a correct feeling?”

 

Gert spots a few guilty faces around the room, looking absolutely caught red handed. She rolls her eyes goodnaturedly, then says, “Fine, fine, if it stops my house from getting TPd, have your free time.”

 

Before she even finishes her sentence, the room has burst into chaos. Her third period class is the ninth graders this day in the school cycle, so they’re all young enough to still love Halloween. It’s cute, actually- it reminds her of her high school days, when the biggest party of the year for her and her friends was always, always, the Halloween party. Sometimes, they spawned more drama than they were worth, but Gert can’t help but remember them fondly. Especially the party her junior year- but can you blame her? That night was the basically the kickoff of Gert falling in love with her now-husband. Of course, it took her, like, a year to realize it, and she’d probably been in love with him much longer, her dumb fourteen year old brain just refused to acknowledge it. She used to think she was so smart, but now that she’s teaching kids that age, Gert’s realized something- anyone from the age of fourteen to sixteen is an absolute fucking dumbass. Like, yeah, they all have beautiful, growing minds that need to be nurtured and encouraged- but they all only have one brain cell each in the personal relationships department. Two, if they’re lucky. (Most of them aren’t). 

 

Gert keeps an eye on the class from her desk, spotting two of her students giving each other death glares, one girl making heart eyes at the back of the girl who sits in front of her’s head, and a small group at the back of the class gossiping about the girl with the most highlights’ ex-boyfriend. Yeah, definitely not that lucky. 

 

~~~~~

 

Out of all of Gert’s work friends, Kamala Khan is probably Chase’s favourite. She’s really nice, and she loves Joey, and she  _ never  _ makes fun of his height, which makes her automatically superior to, say, MJ. MJ is a  _ heathen _ , and she’s  _ mean _ . Gert’s only other close work friend, Jubilation Lee (Jubilee for short), is also a heathen, but for completely unrelated reasons. No one art teacher should own that many weird items of clothing. Chase knows that’s a thing, with art teachers- they basically all dress like their name is Taako and they’re from TV. But Jubilee takes it to the max, as she always does. Speaking of Jubilee’s X-TREME nature, Kamala is currently detailing how their friend ‘accidentally’ broke a window in the science lab. 

 

“So, then, she tells the kids that the best course action is to completely ignore the window they just broke via their art in motion projects, and book it back inside, at which point she runs directly into the teacher whose window she just broke.”   
  


“No! Really?” Joey, who’d previously been entertaining herself with her green dog toy, reaches up at him from the baby carrier, a scrunchy, worried look on her face. She clearly thinks his exclamation means something bad happened, and she looks so worried that Chase leans down and picks her up out of the carrier. Joey pats him on the face a few times, like her little hands can get rid of anything and everything bad in the world. They probably could, honestly. He kisses her on the forehead, and she looks up at him, eyes big and brown and full of wonder. 

 

Kamala’s phone dings, and Chase looks back to her, apologetic. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to, like, forget your existence for a minute there. So what happened after?”

 

“One, never apologize for that,” Kamala says, dismissing his apology with a wave of her hand. “Joey is the cutest kid on the face of the planet, and she’s your  _ daughter _ , don’t worry about it. Two...let’s just say Ms. Jujube owes Jeff a whole semester’s worth of free coffee.”

 

They both crack up, and in the same moment, the lunch bell rings. Oh, good, Gert should be out soon. He’d hate for her to skip lunch- she does that sometimes, when she’s ‘too busy to eat’, and it always ends in a very cranky wife and a very tired Chase Yorkes.

 

“What are we laughing about?” Gert’s voice asks, and he turns around to face her, splitting into a grin. Joey’s pacifier falls out of her mouth as she lets out an excited giggle, making him glad it’s clipped onto her (purple, with a bat and the words ‘teething bites’ stitched into it, because they’re Cool Parents) onesie. 

 

“Oh, just Jubilee being chaotic as usual. Did you hear she broke a window?” Gert nods as she makes grabby hands at the brown paper bag he’s holding, so he hands it to her, watching her face light up when she sees what it is. Since he had the time, Chase figured he’d make Gert’s favourite lunch for her- an ultra deluxe turkey club, aka the type with avocado and honey mustard. When Gert was pregnant, she put honey mustard on everything- even carried around a bottle. She hasn’t really been able to kick the addiction.

 

“Yeah, I was, like, there, actually. I swear, that’s the last time I let myself be convinced into teaching outside- nothing like a midget in comically giant heart shaped glasses breaking a window by accidentally kicking off her combat boot to scar a few kids for life. Also,” she says, leaning over and pressing a kiss to his cheek, “thank you for bringing me lunch.”

 

“Of course, babe. Couldn’t have you trick-or-treating tonight all grumpy.” Gert wrinkles her nose at him, annoyed. “Come on, being hungry always makes you pissy, and you know it.”

 

“Rude. Also, give me my daughter,” she says, reaching for Joey, and Chase hands her to his wife with a roll of his eyes. 

 

“Oh, so she’s  _ your  _ daughter now.”

 

“When you make fun of me, yes, she is,” Gert says, eyes on Joey as their daughter claps her hands together a few times. She’s got a big, goofy smile on her face, absolutely delighted to be in her mother’s arms. He would make a joke about now knowing which parent Joey loves more, but, come on. It’s Gert. She deserves the ‘best parent’ title. 

 

“Okay, but...he wasn’t wrong, Gert. Remember the Twix bar?”

 

Gert’s eyes go wide at Kamala’s question, and Chase grins. “Twix bar? What Twix bar?”

 

“Uh, no Twix bar-”

 

“Oh my God, I can’t believe you haven’t told him about the Twix bar.” Despite Gert’s death glare, Kamala, wearing a maniacal grin, starts, “So, when Gert was about five months pregnant, I was doing this thing with my world studies class, and I had two Twix bars as prizes.  _ Deluxe  _ size, mind you. So, during recess, the two of us are chatting in my classroom about, like, the football game the previous Friday, or something.” Yes, Concord, Massachusetts is that type of town. Football and hockey are really big, here, especially the high school games. Actually, mostly just the high school games. Chase loves it- there’s something about eating stadium food with his wife and daughter at the homecoming game that fills him with an indescribable joy. “And then, Gert spots the Twix bar.”

 

“Kamala, I will  _ literally  _ kill you.”

 

Chase smirks, nodding at their infant daughter in her arms. “Baby’s first murder, huh?”

 

Gert shrugs. “Gotta start ‘em early, right?”

 

Kamala barks a laugh. “Oh my god-”

 

“Ms. Khan, Ms. Khan!” A ninth grader about the same size as Chase’s pinkie finger jogs up to them, clutching the straps of his overstuffed backpack. He starts talking to Kamala about some sort of superhero movie, voice high and squeaky, and Chase takes that as his cue to leave.

“Hey, I’m gonna go, okay? Joey’s probably gonna start freaking out soon, so.” Gert pouts a little, but hands back their daughter when Chase reaches for her, pressing a kiss to her cheek beforehand. 

 

“I’m gonna leave as soon as the bell rings, alright?” Gert says, and he raises an eyebrow at her, doubtful. “Chase, I swear I will.”

 

“You say that every time, though. And, inevitably, every time-”

 

Gert gets onto her tippy toes and kisses him, just to shut him up. “I  _ promise.” _

 

~~~~~

 

To delay what will surely be the Sisyphean effort that will be required to get Joey into her Halloween costume, Chase decides that Joey needs a bath. She ended up getting her applesauce, like, all over her face and down her onesie, so a dip in the tub is probably worth their while. Plus, she loves the bath, so her being in a good mood when he tries to get her into the costume will definitely help. 

 

While he sets up the whale shaped infant bathtub, Joey entertains herself by playing with the green dog toy she’s had since- well, birth, really. It was Karolina’s gift at the baby shower, and Joey hasn’t let go of it since it was given to her. Their first night home, she slept between the two of them, her tiny hands clutching the toy- that was practically the same size as her- in a chokehold. It’s a rattle toy, so it can always, always keep her entertained, which Chase is grateful for. If he needs to go, say, clean the kitchen, or something, all he has to do is set her down in the playpen with the toy and she’ll be good for as long as he needs, most of the time. 

 

He fills the tub with warm water, then gets to it, Joey giggling the entire time as she splashes around. By the end of it, he’s soaked, but, hey, at least he has à clean daughter. It won’t stick, but they’ll probably go at least an hour before she dirties herself up again, so that’s good, right?

 

Once she’s clean, Chase wraps Joey in one of her many, many baby sized bathrobes that Gert has bought over the past year or so. Every time Gert goes to the store, if she passes the baby section, it’s guaranteed that she’ll buy another bathrobe for Joey. The one she’s wearing now looks like a shark, but they’ve also got one that looks like a flower, another that’s a tiger....you get the gist. She says that they’re ‘useful’ and ‘a good investment’. Chase says that she just thinks they’re cute. She’s not wrong, but do they really need that many? Probably not.

 

He’s just about to go change Joey into real clothes when the door slams open and shut. He checks the watch Gert gave him for their anniversary last year, and, yep, for the very first time in her life, Gert is home on time. 

 

“Hey, I’m home!” She calls from the front porch, and as Chase makes his way to her, he can hear the jangling of her purse being set down and her coat being taken off. When he rounds the corner into the porch, she tilts her head at him. “Why are you soaked?”

 

“This one needed a bath, and decided I needed one too,” he says, shaking his head at Joey, but she just giggles at him. How can one baby be so cute and yet so maniacal at the same time?

 

“You better change before we leave- I am not having you whining about a cold for the next two weeks, and I am double not having Joey get sick because you decided to be dumb.”

 

Chase pouts at her. “What happened to ‘my husband is the smartest man I know’?” 

 

Gert shakes her head at him with a long suffering grin, then closes the space between them to wrap her arms loosely around his shoulders. “You  _ are  _ the smartest man I know. Your last brain cell works so hard!” 

 

“You’re the worst.”

 

“Oh, am I? Am I the worst? Am I-  _ mmph!” _

 

Chase cuts her off with a kiss, and she melts into it, sliding one hand to cup his jaw as she does. It’s as magical as it was the first time, the second time, and every kiss after that. And Chase doesn’t think it’s ever going to stop feeling that way. The world around them will change, sure- new people, new experiences, new bumps in the road. But kissing Gert is always going to feel the exact same way it did the day he married her. That, at least, won’t ever be subject to change.

 

~~~~~

 

Somehow, Chase manages to get Joey into her costume without a meltdown from their fussball of a daughter. Gert is glad, too- this wouldn’t have been nearly as fun if Joey was crying the whole time. But she didn’t shed one tear as Chase put her into the pumpkin costume, and Gert is so, so grateful. She’s also grateful that Chase is  _ actually  _ letting her draw cat whiskers on his face- she really thought there would be more pushback. God, they’re gonna be so cute- a cat, a witch, and a pumpkin? Heidi ‘Queen Of Halloween’ Klum WISHES she was them. WISHES.

 

Gert feeds Joey, and then they head out, Chase holding Joey and Gert holding her tiny jack-o-lantern candy bucket. Joey won’t be eating one bite of candy, but the neighbours don’t need to know that Gert and Chase will be stuffing their faces the minute Joey is put to bed, now, do they?

 

They do a slow lap around the neighborhood, stopping to chat with any other young parents they pass along the way. This is a pretty young neighborhood, so they’ve made a good few couple friends. It’s nice- Joey has kids to have playdates with, and Gert and Chase have friends to hang out with for dinner parties. They’re nowhere near as close to them as they are to, say, Karolina or Nico, but, hey, when all your friends are spread across the country, you have to make do, right?

 

When the candy bucket is full, and Joey is yawning every second minute, Gert decides it’s probably time for their daughter to go to bed. She takes her from Chase for the walk back, half because she wants to hold their daughter and half because Chase was eyeing the candy bucket  _ hard _ . 

 

Joey snuggles into her, already asleep by the time they walk in the door. Not bothering to take off her shoes, Gert carries her to the nursery, changing her into her onesie. Joey wakes up halfway through, blinking drowsily as Gert buttons up the onesie. 

 

Groggily, she points up at the cat ears Gert is wearing. Halfway through their walk, Gert made Chase switch with her, having been tired of the witch hat after wearing it all day. Joey points again, then says, “Cat.”

 

“Yes, cat-  _ oh my God!”  _ JOEY JUST SAID HER FIRST WORD!!! “CHASE, get in here!”

 

Her husband rushes in, a worried look on his face. “What? What is it?”

 

Gert holds up Joey, asking her daughter, “Joey, what am I?”

 

Joey giggles, pointing again at the cat ears. “Cat!”   
  


Gert grins at her husband. “You heard that, right?”

 

“Oh my god, I can’t believe I missed it. I spend  _ all day  _ with her-”

 

Gert sticks her tongue out at him. “I guess she just likes me better.”

 

Chase steps closer, wrapping as arm around her waist and squeezing tight. Gert leans back against him, Joey snuggling into her shoulder as she re-adjusts her grip. Chase presses his lips to the side of her head, staying there as he whispers in an awed tone, “She just said her first word.”

 

Gert grins, turning to face him. “I know! Another milestone checked off the list.”

 

Chase laughs wetly. “Yep. all we need now is for her to say ‘mama’ and ‘dada’ and we’ve got them all.”

 

Gert snorts, then tilts her face up to rest her forehead against his. “You are gonna cry so hard.”

 

“You’re gonna cry harder.” 

 

She giggles, but it comes out choked. “Probably, yeah.”

 

Joey yawns, and Gert separates from him to settle her down in the crib pulling the small quilt Klara gave them at the baby shower around her shoulders. For a long moment, they both look down at their sleeping daughter, Chase’s arms around her and Gert leaning back against him. She feels at peace, here with her family. Like nothing could ever go wrong, as long as she’s with them. That’s probably too optimistic- or, at least, that’s what the younger version of herself would say. She used to have such a hard time seeing the good things in life. Before Chase, she was always a glass half empty kind of girl. But loving him taught her to see the good things- and God, there are so many good things. 

 

“What are you thinking about?” Chase asks softly. “I can hear the gears turning.”

 

She looks at him in the dim light of the nursery, studying his face. It’s the same as it always is- classically handsome, with smile lines and a tiny bit of grey at the temples. She just knows he’s gonna end up going all salt and pepper when they get older- and, to be honest, she’s totally looking forward to it. “You. Us. Our family. I just...I don’t know. I’ve been thinking, today, about how it used to be when we were kids. When everything was so complicated.”

 

Chase presses a soft kiss to her furrowed brow, ridding her of any lingering worry. “Good thing everything is easy now, then.”

 

Gert huffs laugh, because she knows not everything is. But… “Pretty damn close to it, I’d say.”

 

Chase grins at her, soft and loving, the kind of grin that’s always been just for her. Yeah. Pretty damn close to it. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
